On Shifting Ground: Muslim Women in the Global Era (review)

A diverse collection of essays written by women about current aspects of the Muslim woman's experience, On Shifting Ground: Muslim Women in the Global Eracovers a vast array of the issues facing Muslim women today. Editor and contributor Fereshteh Nouraie-Simone explains that the book "illuminates the global and local forces in play, asking the reader to relinquish preconceived notions of Western-style feminism as the only goal for all women, and secular, Western-style democracy as the only viable political structure for all societies" (xvi). Indeed, the essays in On Shifting Groundchallenge the reader to rethink ideas about the veil, feminism within Islam and Muslim women's role in the media. This book is an ambitious attempt to offer up-to-date discourse on age-old debates within feminist Middle Eastern theory and the new issues that have come to the fore in this technology era.

Scholars and graduate students in Middle East or women's studies may find the collection of essays to be a useful tool for examining different aspects of theory and the modern female Muslim experience. As a work in its entirety, the reader may find the themes from essay to essay to be somewhat disjointed and difficult to follow. Despite the broad spectrum of topics within the book, On Shifting Groundcontributes a great deal of insight and expertise to the complex arena: Muslim Women in the Global Era.The title of the book is clearly an accurate reflection of the massive undertaking of such a project.

Contributor Lila Abu-Lughod discusses women's views about the participation of Muslim women in the media in her essay, "On- and Off-Camera in Egyptian Soap Operas: Women, Television, and the Public Sphere." She highlights the complexities regarding the often-pejorative attitudes among women in an Egyptian community toward their counterparts' work in the Egyptian television industry. In her essay, "Singing a New Song: Bonding and Breaking with the Past," Sherifa Zuhur examines the presence of Arab women in vocal entertainment and the contradiction of the perceived achievement of women's independence and agency in their entrance and sustained presence in a career versus religious implications that define women's behavior in public spaces such as performance venues.

In "Globalizing Equality: Muslim Women, Theology, and Feminism," Asma Barlas makes a perceptive observation that can be described as one of the themes in the book: "Theology versus secular, east versus west, Islam versus democracy—all these polarizations ignore the complex, evolving dialogue about gender equality in a vigorous civil society" (107). Saba Mahmood's essay aptly follows and illuminates, in part, the difficulties experienced by single women viewed as past or near marriage age by describing fieldwork in Egypt. She examines the meaning of the veil, both historically and in the current context, following the events of September 11, 2001. Leila Ahmed focuses entirely on the veil in her contribution, "The Veil Debate—Again." Ahmed opens by providing some individuals' responses when asked why they wear the hijab: "I believe it's a choice not an obligation. . . I wear it. . . as a way of openly identifying with a group that people have prejudices about and as a way of saying yes we're here and we have the right to be here and to be treated equally" and "I started wearing it after I returned from a visit to my relatives in Palestine. I don't believe the Qur'an requires it—for me, wearing it is a way of affirming my community and identity, a way of saying that even as I enjoy the comforts we take for granted here and that people in Palestine totally lack, I will not forget the struggle for justice" (153). Ahmed provides historical context for the veil and examines issues of modernity and feminism; she also comments on recent events, such as the French ban, and how these issues affect...